Safety Lights Are For Dudes

(AKA Miss S B and The Yorksher Gob)

Entries tagged with sport

Item: I'm currently taking a tw'oliday from twitter - there's so much horrific news at the moment, and it's hurting and affecting people I know and love, and it hurts being bombarded by it several times a day, so I'm taking a break. It won't be forever, probably just a couple of weeks. Just to build up my resilience.

Item: I have been incredibly impressed by hp-for-business customer support the last couple of days. Not only did the lady sort out the recalcitrant printer that had proved resistant to both mine and Alisdair's best efforts, but she rang me back today to check that things were still OK and it was still working (it was).

Item: I've taken to instagram like a duck to water. I'm pretty active (user name is jennierigg) and I'm mostly posting pictures of my doggies. The accounts I am following fall into four categories: 1, People I actually know; 2, accounts which post pictures of cute doggies; 3, accounts which post pictures of hot guys with beards; and 4, artists I admire - mostly tattoo and comicbook, but not exclusively. Oh, and there's also the amazing collision of 2 and 3 that is Hot Dudes With Dogs.If you want to be bombarded with pictures of my doggies, occasional gym updates and photos of food, and comments on your photos do feel free to follow me there.

Item: Mental health has been... Not bad but not great. I have been quite low through the end of January, and the nightmares have been about 3 times a week. However, touch wood, things seem to be picking up. I'm slightly anxious about getting a Case Of The Februaries, but also hoping that the Februaries just came early and I got them out of the way in January. I did write up the nightmare I had the other day, and writing it out helped. I then gave it a cheesy happy ending. If there's demand I might post it.A thing that's helping mental health a LOT is that I'm getting in a reasonable amount of reading time recently. Current OMG WOW SHE'S AMAZING author is Tananarive Due. Thoroughly recced to all of you.

Item: Physical health is pretty good. I'm not doing much cycling because the canal path is still buggered after the floods in late December - although matgb is on about taking me road cycling soon, despite my nerves - but I'm doing really well at the gym and in the pool, and getting some decent walks in every so often. I've got pretty impressive muscles at the mo.

Item: A week today I am going to go for the first appointment for my next tattoo. I has the excite! This has been ages in gestation; Matt has been sending me rough sketches by email, and it's going to be amazing. He's a genuinely awesome artist too. Really exciting. So that's probably going to go on Instagram; it'll also affect my swimming a little bit, because I'll have to not swim for a week after having it done. Boo. Shall have to do treadmill or something equally dreadful for cardio. :(Hmm. Maybe rowing machine? Rowing machine is not that dreadful...

Item: Daughter continues fabulous. She's really settled in at the old Alma Mater, and has chosen her GCSE options this month*pauses to pass smelling salts to those who remember her being born and are now feeling faint with age*Doggies are also great, and very snuggly. And I'm coping OK with having all my boys under one roof, even if it is a bit crowded and a bit rubbish not having my own room any more.

Item: Job continues pretty good - I honestly think if I'd have still been in my old job I would have had a total breakdown two or three times in the last few months. So yeah, I'm really glad of Job. The work itself is fun, the pay is better than any job I have ever had before, and I'm not overburdened. It's pretty cool. I'm still getting used to not having to scrimp for every penny, and trying not to splurge every payday, which is harder than it looks. But I'm getting there...

Item: LibDemmery... I'm not even going there. Everything is hanging on York at the moment. We'll see.

So, yeah, that got longer than I expected. Um. Sorry. But you're all now updated on everything. I think...

This is great news, with one caveat. The Tour de France tends to be a total sausagefest. Yorkshire being the starting point for the tour is a marvellous opportunity to rectify this, not least in tribute to the amazing, mens'-world-record-beating Yorkshirewoman Beryl Burton.

In case anyone was wondering, I bloody loved it. From Isembard Kingdom Brannagh spouting the Tempest and chewing on a stogie to Paul McCartney going off key like we knew he would, and it not really mattering, I loved it.

Highlights for me included:

The inflatable pig over Battersea power station

London Calling seamlessly blending into the Pomp and Circumstance march

Brannagh's sideburns, and him joyously doing The Actor's Stance from Blackadder

SuffragISTS! THANK YOU DANNY BOYLE!

The Windrush, and the Jarrow marchers

The fact that there were several people in wheelchairs in several of the segments, and they were just there, taking part, being a normal part of things, which is how it should be

Similarly, non-white people in all segments of the history bit, no whitewashing.

Yes, Rowan Atkinson was silly, but dammit, we're British, and we do silly so well

86 year old Bond Girl in debut parachute jump

Headbanging to Bo Rhap around the Tardis, followed immediately by pogoing punks

TIM BERNERS-LEE!!!

86 year old Bond Girl picking her fingernails and looking bored during the interminable parade of athletes (although whoever decided to have Fiji come out to The BeeGees needs congratulating) and Phil falling asleep.

Sports personality of the year really is an illustration of the problem, rather than the problem itself, isn't it? Hopefully this furore might get the media to pay a bit more attention to the stunning successes of some of our female sports stars, but somehow I doubt it. Post-feminist era my arse.

* for which read men**, because of course, women are NOTpeople and who cares if they are interested or not?** probably young, white, able-bodied cis-gendered, heterosexual men, for that matter.

About This Blog

Hello! I'm Jennie (known to many as SB, due to my handle, or The Yorksher Gob because of my old blog's name). This blog is my public face; click here for a list of all the other places you can find me on t'interwebs.

Please note that any and all opinions expressed in this blog are subject to random change at whim my own, and not necessarily representative of my party, or any of the constituent parts thereof (except myself, obviously).